Introducing *Paranoid*

Paranoid is a guild for the socially awkward, the shy, the people who’d like to raid, but get a headache just thinking about all the things they could screw up. The people who type a message to someone who’s LFM in trade, then backspace, then type, backspace, type, stare at what they’ve written, backspace again and go quest on their own. And if they do press enter, they’re relieved if they get the reply: “Sorry, full.”

Can I tell how much I wish I’d found a guild like this when I first started playing WoW? Maybe it wouldn’t have taken me a year to reach max level. Maybe I would have gotten to experience end-game dungeons and Vanilla raiding. Heck, maybe it wouldn’t have taken me two years to get over my “never going to play with others” mentality!

This was me

I know I have a couple of readers who’ve mentioned they’d like to be part of a guild that understood shyness. So if you play on the EU side of the pond and you’d give group play a try if it weren’t for those blasted butterflies/stomach knots/icky sweating, there’s a guild out there for you, where you can meet quite a few fellow players who totally get you.

I also got the opportunity to exchange briefly with Döra/Thriftee and Mershelle (an officer and the GM of Paranoid, respectively) and both are lovely ladies whom I’m positive would make for fantastic guildies.

To find them, look up Paranoid on Emerald Dream EU, or drop by their webpage.

Going off on a tangent, I noticed a link on my stats page from a thread on the official forums. “Uh oh” I thought! But it turned out that one of my early posts was linked in the thread that spawned Paranoid. Can I tell you how excited I was? (Except for the fact that it was an early post and my writing back then was atrocious! I cringed so many times rereading that post!)

Being a blogger, I think of myself as a bit of an artist. Like maybe a part time artist. I attempt to turn elements of myself into something somewhat creative in order to share them. Whether or not I succeed is up to the reader to decide. But when a piece I’ve written contributes, however minimally, to something greater, the feeling is incredible. It’s at times like these that I feel like I’ve succeed as a part-time bit-of-an-artist. When I feel like I’ve had a part, though tiny, in making a difference.

Anyway, props to Mershelle, Döra and the rest of the crew behind Paranoid! As you guys (and many of us too) know, WoW is a refuge to a lot of socially anxious or socially isolated (or both!) persons, but quite often we find ourselves just as cut off in the virtual world as we do in the real one. You guys have build a network, a support system, and maybe even a stepping stone for a lot of people. And, to me, that’s beautiful.

Oh thank you for this Bossy Pally – much appreciated. Indeed it is very much down to people like yourself and also Glorwynn over at ‘Heavy Wool Bandage’ that laid much of the groundwork for the idea that spawned ‘Paranoid’ in the mind of our GM Mershelle, and it was her post that inspired me to join Paranoid, and write about it in my own blog.

So even if you think your writing was below your best back then – this is proof positive that your honesty and courage back then still resonates with people in a way that is very meaningful. When I was first pointed to your’s and Glorwynn’s posts, I saw so much of myself there, and it felt so nice to come across people who had put into words what I was feeling. Social Anxiety has a way of making you feel that no-one understands you, but there are more people out there just like you than you think, and when you meet them it is such a refreshing change.

To actually be able to play with people who totally get where you are coming from is an amazing experience! So much more relaxing & fun! Early days yet for the guild, but it already feels like a success for me, So thanks again 😀

Thank you for writing about us, we’ve gained some new members who mentioned they were pointed to Paranoid by your post, as well as some encouraging emails! As Döra said, it’s early days yet, but we’re slowly getting there.

Hopefully our first Guild Party will happen this weekend or the next, for those who’d like to get virtually drunk while trying to make sense of 4 chat windows at the same time and the guild bank needs decluttering because everyone adds useful things but doesn’t take anything because someone else might need it more. 😛

One would think that playing a game in a virtual world where no one knows who you really are would be easy but it’s just not so, for me at least, or others apparently. I know this is probably a stretch but would you know of any guilds similar to Paranoid on this side of the pond, more specifically the Drenden U.S. server? Things are so bad for me that I go in 5 man pugs in a spec i don’t enjoy playing to collect my JP’s to gear up as Prot and Holy. My son always laughs at me for doing it because “….you never tank or heal…” and my response is, I will some day but…… If the opportunity does come I am usually AFk or have to go or some such thing /sigh.

Bruiin
Drenden

p.s. I have been following your exploits for some time now via your blog and totally enjoy your posts.

I don’t know of any equivalent US guilds, unfortunately. I would recommend my guild on Nerz’hul- they’re not shy but they’re easy going, have never given me any hassle over being quiet and go out of their way to try to include me- but they’re going through a lot of changes right now. I would want to recommend a server transfer only to have our guild environment change the next day.

On pugging… I get the same way with tanking. Tanking in front of strangers scares me to death. Yet, oddly enough, I find healing pugs much less scary than dps. I see dps getting abused constantly, but as a healer, I can’t say I’ve ever had any problems (with the exception of two occasions that were more bizarre than anything else).

And on being shy on the internet, it’s not weird at all. Some people who are shy offline really blossom in the virtual world, but not everyone. I’m actually a bit shier on the internet because I can’t use body language or read faces. (Same goes for talking on the phone…uggg…phones terrify me!)

Blushing…quick Fannon get the camera! You’re very photogenic by the way/ now you can blush – lol.

It’s amazing how people see and react to things so differently. I am completely opposite with regards to tanking and healing. When I do find the nerve to tank it’s an absolute hoot but the rare time I have healed outside of a BG where you simply blend in I was absolutely terrified. Of course, what do i want to do the most…be a healer!

Anyways, thank-you for your quick response and make sure you have lots of warm clothes as the weather in Alberta can be pretty mean sometimes.